News, Views & Inspiration
She had a dignity and presence that communicated with some deep eternal part of me. She moved me. She helped me remember to be grateful for all the ancestors on whose shoulders we stand (Oprah Winfrey also reminds me of this).
Thank you, Maya Angelou, for your life and legacy. Thank you for reminding me how important it is to be authentic.
(Thank you artist, Merry Wilcox, for this beautiful mixed media piece I saw in the Dallas Area Fiber Artists show in Spring 2014).
I had a love for the Irises painting by Vincent Van Gogh and had bought the poster of that painting back in college. After I graduated from college and worked in the corporate world I realized I still loved painting and took painting classes in the evening.
While still in my twenties I had an old-fashioned notion that I had to live in New York City and study art there to really pursue a career in art. So back when I was getting started with my painting career, I managed to tweak my office skills so I could get a decent part-time job to support me once I arrived in NYC.
Some days I’d pass through the Museum of Modern Art to gaze at Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” for inspiration. 
It was at age 26 that I read extensively about the life of Van Gogh. He decided to become a painter at the age of 26 and his life ended tragically ten years later yet he produced over 2100 artworks in his short life.
I’m working on my version of one of his paintings as a fun exercise. It’s still in progress and here’s how it’s looking. I tend to want to make it into an abstract.
I can’t seem to get enough of the beautiful filters on the Paper Artist app! Have you tried it yet? You can download it as an app on your smartphone if you have one.
This app makes a plain photo look like an illustration. You can find it at http://www.paperartist.net. It’s produced by JFDP-Labs.
A while back I bought a big paper star in Chinatown. I’ve never seen it look this good!
“You are a child of the Universe, no less than the trees and the stars, you have a right to be here.”
Remember that poem made into a song?
You may not have since it was released as a record, spoken by Les Crane, in 1971 (see the video above).
Does Crane’s calm, still, strong voice speak to you?
I was drawn to the wisdom of “If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.”
The Gifts of Imperfection
I’m taking my first Oprah Life Class. I signed up after happening upon an interview of Brene Brown by Chase Jarvis, co-founder of one of my favorite creative resources, CreativeLive.com. I had already seen Brown on Oprah’s Super Soul Sunday and his interview convinced me to sign up.
The 6 week e-course is called “Brene Brown, The Gifts of Imperfection”.
It’s based on Brown’s New York Times bestseller, The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You’re Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are. She shares ten guideposts to what she calls “wholehearted living,” which is about “engaging in our lives from a place of worthiness.”
I began at Part 2 of the course which covers the last five guideposts. Guidepost No. 6 is “Cultivating Creativity: Letting Go of Comparison.”
We’re bombarded with comparisons every day. Buy this one, it’s stronger and better than that one.
I find the meat of the message of letting go of comparison on page 97: “Creativity, which is the expression of our originality, helps us stay mindful that what we bring to the world is completely original and cannot be compared.”
So next time Comparison roars its ugly head, boldly stay away from comparing yourself with yourself. Trust, as Max Ehrmann said, that “The Universe is unfolding as it should.”